Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX has launched the world’s largest commercial communications satellite on July 28.
Key points
- A Falcon Heavy rocket launched Maxar Technologies’ largest ever satellite called Jupiter 3 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, in Florida.
- The Falcon Heavy is the second-most powerful rocket flying today, after NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which debuted in November 2022 on the agency’s Artemis 1 moon mission.
- The Jupiter 3 joined others in the Hughes Jupiter satellite fleet already in orbit. Jupiter 3 is the largest commercial communications satellite ever built, according to its operator, Hughes Network Systems.
- The satellite will support services such as in-flight Wi-Fi and augment private Wi-Fi usage with other wireless technologies in the United States and Latin America.
- The Falcon Heavy launched for the first time in February 2018, sending Elon Musk’s red Tesla Roadster aloft on a highly anticipated and very photogenic test flight.
